Ice Bath Therapy for Chronic Pain Relief

Chronic pain affects more than 50 million adult Americans and is one of the leading reasons patients go to doctors. Chronic pain is a condition that can cause significant decline in an individual’s quality of life and their functionality in their day to day activities. Analgesic drugs are usually administered but they have side effects and do not treat the root causes of pain fully. This has made many chronic pain patients search for other treatment methods that are more comprehensive in their approach. Having looked at several methods of treatment, one that has been receiving a lot of consideration is the ice bath therapy.

Ice bath therapy is where one submerges their body in a bath of cold water and ice cubes to help soothe aching muscles.

Cold water immersion or cryotherapy refers to the process of immersing oneself in cold water for a short period of time. They usually take between 10 to 15 minutes. The rationale behind this therapy is that cold decreases pain through analgesia, inflammation, and improved circulation, both for acute and chronic pain relief. It has its historical background in physical fitness where it was employed as a way of decreasing inflammation and pain in muscles, but has been investigated in the contemporary world as a treatment for chronic pain.

How Does It Work?

Cold water causes the stimula­tion of the dive reflex in the body; this means that blood flow moves towards the core organs. This assists in removing waste products in the tissues as well as reduces inflammation which is a root cause of pain. Cold also has an effect of causing slight numbness for a while, thus addressing pain with a temporary solution. When a person gets out of a bath, blood rushes back to the extremities and thus delivers fresh oxygenated blood and nutrients. This reperfusion is believed to help in the repair process of damaged tissues.

Moreover, the repeated cold exposure over the time may also have an impact on the fact that the central nervous system can be re-sensitized to the pain message. It has been found that when this therapy is used on a daily basis, for several weeks, it can significantly bring about permanent change in pain thresholds and manifestations of pain.

Advantages of Chronic Pain Relief

A growing base of evidence supports using ice bath therapy as part of an overall treatment plan for certain chronic pain conditions, including:A growing base of evidence supports using ice bath therapy as part of an overall treatment plan for certain chronic pain conditions, including:

• Fibromyalgia – Fibromyalgia is a disease that entails the suffering of tender and painful muscles all over the body. Some research has indicated that if a patient submerged themselves in cold water, their fibromyalgia pain reduces temporarily. Daily ice bathing may also assist in the improvement of sleep quality, fatigue, and overall quality of life, in patients with fibromyalgia.
• Arthritis – Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, both cause joint pain and inflammation which may be hard to manage. WBC has been documented in the literature to decrease pain and morning stiffness in arthritis and enhance functional mobility. They can also benefit from localized ice baths which reduces the pain and inflammation of the joints that are affected.
• Neuralgia – Cold therapy may be effective for some types of neuropathic pain, including diabetic neuropathy and sciatica, because of its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Applying ice packs over the skin overlying the affected nerves can offer some relief from shooting or burning nerve pain for a short while.

If you want to be even more specific in your answer, then: Chronic headaches/migraines – Some studies have found that migraine is associated with blood vessel dilation and inflammation in the brain. Reducing the size of these blood vessels through cold exposure may alleviate the severity and frequency of migraines for some patients. Cold pack or ice bag is effective in numbing head and neck pain and can also be used.

Postoperative pain – After an individual has been injured or undergone surgery, the area that has been operated on experiences increased pain due to inflammation around the wound or the site where surgery was conducted. It has been found that icing the area for about 10-15 minutes at a time will aid in the healing as well as providing post-surgical pain relief.

The analgesic effects are not very long-lasting, therefore, ice bath therapy is most effective as a continually administered complementary treatment and as a pain reliever rather than an elimination of the issue. However, when used in conjunction with other forms of therapy, it can help to alleviate pain across months of usage.

Considerations Before Trying

While generally safe for most people, using ice bath therapy does come with some risks and considerations:While generally safe for most people, using ice bath therapy does come with some risks and considerations:

• If you have any heart problems, low blood pressure, diabetic complication, or neuropathy which may limit your ability to feel and respond to cold temperatures, consult your physician before using it.
• Prolonged immersion – begin with shorter sessions (5-7 minutes) in warmer water (50-60°F) the first time to avoid stressing your body. Subsequently, gradually progress to the cooler temperatures and longer periods of time.
• If you have difficulty in moving around or are prone to falls, have a strategy for entering and exiting the tub. Never ice bath alone.
• Take care not to apply ice to regions with subcutaneous nerves such as wrists or ankles to prevent nerve tissue from freezing.
• If you begin to shiver intensely or feel any of the following, cease the activity: dizziness, rapid pulse, shortness of breath, or numb/tingly extremities that do not recover within a few minutes of completing the exercise.

How to Give Your Body an Ice Bath Treatment at Home

If you want to give ice bath therapy a try as part of your pain management plan, here are some tips:If you want to give ice bath therapy a try as part of your pain management plan, here are some tips:

What you’ll need:

• A tub or bucket that can comfortably accommodate the part of the body affected by the rash.
• Ice to be used to fill the tub with cold water
• Towels
• Warm garments or covering such as robes or blankets.
• Timer

Steps:

1. Add cold water to the tub and place several trays of ice cubes in it. Water should be at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Stir water to assist the ice in fastening the process of cooling the water.
2. First, have a cup of warm tea and warm up your body by doing some light exercise like marching on the spot to warm up the body for the cold exposure.
3. Gradually fill the tub and only put painful areas such as hands, wrists, knees, or hips into the water. When doing a full-body wash, ensure that you sit down gently. Do not lean forward or sit or stand during a shower.
4. In your initial session choose a timer and set it to the approximate duration you want to spend on the task, usually starting from 10-15 minutes and gradually increasing to 15 minutes over several sessions if well tolerated.
5. Try to get yourself to breathe slowly and deeply to stimulate the dive response so that you can relax. Meditation and other distractions can also be used to help you endure the cold to be exposed for longer periods of time.
6. When the time is up, move out of the tub as cautiously as you entered it. Make sure you do not fall; this is a very important aspect of safety.
7. Get out and dry off with towels and put on warm clothes such as warm blankets. It is also important to start moving around the body as this will help to rewarm the body faster. This assists in accelerating the return of blood to the limbs.
8. Dip in ice bath should be followed by not less than 2 hours of rest so that the body can warm up again. It is recommended to make ice baths part of the routine and use them 2-3 times a week at the minimum. It is advisable to note down your pain levels before and after, to measure the efficiency of the technique.

Just like with any other form of therapy, pay attention to your signals and do not over-exert yourself. Although there may be some experimentation necessary to find out what really works for you, ice bath treatment may help you ease on the pain symptoms that are ailing you. After some time, it is possible to prolong the freezing temp by learning how to relax and thereby increase the body’s ability to adapt and get the most out of it.

Thus, if the process of taking ice baths is being done correctly and safely, it becomes possible to include them into the list of pain self-management tools and, as a result, experience less pain and have better quality of life. When cold therapy is integrated with other elements of daily living such as light exercise, meditation and anti-inflammatory diet then it becomes a more holistic approach that might help you to regain control over your chronic pain.